Jo's Icelandic Recipes has moved here (the old website is still up but I have stopped updating it). Covers recipes, Icelandic foodstuffs, food culture and history. Please post questions under the appropriate recipe. If there is an Icelandic recipe you're looking for, you can either leave a comment or email me (see sidebar) with a request and I'll see what I can do.
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Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar bit by bit, whipping well in-between. Whip until the dough is stiff and mix in vanilla or other flavouring (sherry or rum is also good). Oil and flour a baking sheet, or simply line one with baking paper. Put some of the dough into a pastry bag with a big tip, and squeeze out some even sized blobs onto the baking sheet/paper. The dough will not rise noticeably, so make them the size you want the cookies to be. Bake in a warm oven (150° C) until they are dry and have started to take on a slight golden colour (if you test one for doneness, it does not matter if they are sligthy chewy right at the center). Remove immediately from the baking sheet and allow to cool before storing in a cookie tin.

Variation: Make small drops, dip them in chocolate, and serve as sweets.

17/12/2007

The original name is probably riz à l’amande (French for almond rice), but the Danish call it ris a la mande. Whether it is originally French or the name simply got Frenchified, I don’t know, but I do know this is a delicious pudding if correctly made. In some Icelandic households it is served instead of rice pudding (see previous recipe) at Christmas. The first time I tasted ris a la mande, I didn't like it at all. This is perhaps because it was lumpy and the cook had left out the vanilla. I have since made peace with it, and like it just as much as the traditional Icelandic rice pudding.

Bring the milk to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the rice and vanilla bean and cook up a rice pudding (see previous recipe for method). When the pudding is done, remove the vanilla bean. Add the sugar, almonds and gelatine (prepared as indicated on the packaging). Cool and fold in the whipped cream. Decorate with slivered almonds before serving.

Traditionally served with hot caramel sauce or cherry sauce. (I’m looking for the recipes and will add them to the recipe when I do).

Mix together flour, spices and baking soda. Add soft butter and mix until crumbly. Add syrup, egg and brown sugar and knead until smooth. Store in a refrigerator for 2-3 days. (BTW, this is not my recipe – I can not imagine that it needs to be stored for this long before baking. Overnight should be plenty of time).Flatten dough until about 2-3 millimetres thick and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes. Put on a lightly floured baking sheet and bake at 175°C on the centre rung of the oven until the edges of the cookies turn dark. Cool and decorate with icing.

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Please don't send me any more requests to ask the cook for a recipe for food you tried at an Icelandic restaurant. The cooks are never, ever willing to part with the recipes, and most of the time I can't even begin to guess what it tasted like without actually going there and ordering it for myself. If you know or suspect it was something traditional, please do go ahead and ask, but don't expect me to call the restaurant to ask for a recipe. I am not a trained chef and I rely on my knowledge of traditional Icelandic home cooking and my collection of recipe books to write this blog.

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